The Romero laboratory is presently concentrating on the study of the role of ARF proteins in tyrosine kinase signal transduction, with special emphasis on the role of phospholipase D. They have demonstrated that ARF proteins are essential for the regulation of PLD by insulin and are currently extending these observations to other tyrosine kinase receptors. The lab has developed ARF-green fluorescent protein fusion products that they are using to study the subcellular distribution of ARF proteins and the mechanisms by which growth factors regulate such distributions. They have also shown that phosphatidic acid, the main product of PLD, plays an important role in the recruitment of Raf-1 to the membrane and the activation of the MAP kinase cascade. |
